For all intents and purposes our bite has remained consistent with that of a summer time pattern.......Until now! We normally start experiencing our summer-to-fall transition here in Galveston Bay around mid-September every year. This year we witnessed signs of the transition during the last week of September. Early fall fronts and shorter days are the influencing factors. This year, however, we have another variable to take into consideration which is high salinity. Because of the lack of any substantial rainfall, areas that normally receive an instinctive migration of trout by mid to late October are already holding good numbers of trout (and reds). So what does this mean to us? I believe that our transitional period will be shorter than in years past. This is not to say that one cannot still catch fish out of slicks on their favorite reef or well pad. There are still fish there albeit smaller quantities. Start thinking about where you would normally fish two weeks from now and go give it a shot now. I did the last two days and it paid off!

Oct. 2, 2011 - 20 Plus mph Winds Slows Bite!
Steve along with his son, Jessie and step-son Nick braved some brutal conditions with me to scrape up 7 nice trout, one 27 inch redfish and one 17" flounder. The NE wind was almost unbearable and the fish were also still feeling the effects of the cool front that pushed through two days prior. We were on plenty of fish, but they simply would not cooperate.

Oct. 3rd - Unlikely Limits of Solid Trout!
Strong ENE winds were a problem again this morning so Eric Onishi, his dad, Harvey and their friend Amos had to resort to Plan B with me. We changed our launch site which meant that we would not actually start fishing until almost 9 AM. I really didn't think we would catch a ton of fish given the circumstances, but we were willing to give it our best shot none-the-less.

I went back to an area where we had caught 5 of our 7 trout the day before knowing that many of the other areas were less likely to produce based upon the previous day's experience. It was never fast and furious, but we boated 2 to 5 nice specks up to 23 inches per drift along with lots of undersized trout and big sand trout (up to 17 inches). There's always someone on every trip who has the hot hand. Today it was Amos. He doesn't get to fish much and subsequently, hasn't caught a keeper trout in a long time. Well, he caught more than his fair share today. At one point he caught 3 really good trout in three consecutive casts. Eric also lost a nice red and Amos caught a Spanish mackerel. At 4 O'clock we put number 30 in the cooler and went home.

We focused on mud streaks and small slicks in 5 feet of water. Most of our fish were caught on Morning Glory and Texas Roach Bass Assassin Sea Shads. I probably say this in every report that involves Eric, but I feel compelled to mention it again. Not only does he serve in our U.S. Army proudly with numerous tours of duty in Afghanistan under his belt, but he is one of those individuals who is truly a pleasure to be around. He always has a positive attitude and soaks up every moment as if it were his last. We can all learn a lot about living from men like Eric.